Hey everybody, we finally have the first of two shirts available. The Beer Builds Boats shirt is available for pre-order now $25.00 which includes shipping. The Ariel of Victoria CREW shirts are in the works and will be available soon. Both girls and unisex standard sizes (XS-XXL), available colors shown below. Send us an email with the size and style/color and an address. Should ship by the third week in February or pick in Seattle or Port Townsend during Shipwrights Regatta. Orders need to be in by February 6th for this date. Orders after the 6th will be available after the 1st of March.

The past year has been revelatory as we didn’t work on AV much, didn’t sail as much, didn’t post anything. We took other jobs, repaid favors. Travelled a little. In other words, we took a year off.

And it was miserable.

Not actually, of course. I read books (several!) and did sewing projects. Dinner parties were held regularly. Daniel did several large projects for both fun and profit. We weren’t idle. But we weren’t working on Ariel either. And she knew it.
I like to joke that AV has failed in the gentlest ways possible; our disasters have been survivable and fixable. Anthropomorphizing boats has been going on forever, but it’s hard not to see her as a choosing being, sometimes. So, after stringing her along this year with small projects and maintenance (sails and sailcovers, varnish on the sprit, new shaft coupling, refinished the decks), it’s time to get back on the stick and start making big improvements.

Too long.
We’ve done some maintenance and some goofing off. Left the country. Came back, got sick, got well. I’m not sure how much of the recent twitchy was related to illness and how much was lack of sun. Either way, we both feel better.